ADVOCATE, Lotto. The L. A. for Scotland, called also the king's or queen's A., is the public prosecutor of crimes, senior counsel for the crown in civil Causes, and a political functionary of.yery great ,importance in management. of Scottish affairs.
He may issue warrants for arrestment and imprisonment in any part of Scotland, and possesses many other dis,iretionary and indefinite powers. Previous to the union, the king's A. had a seat in the parliament of Scotland ex officio; and since that event he has been almost invariably a member of parliament. He is appointed by the crown, and his tenure of office ceases with that of the administration of which he is a member. As first law-officer of the crown for Scotland, the L. A., when in parliament, is expected to answer all questions relating to the business of Scotland, and to take the superintendence of legislation for that portion of the united kingdom. Notwithstanding his multifarious official duties, the L. A. accepts ordinary practice at the bar, and, indeed, is usually the most extensively employed practitioner connected with the party in power. lie is assisted in the duties of public prosecutor by the solicitor-general, and by four junior barristers, called advoeates-depute, appointed by himself. The L. A. and solicitor-general are alone entitled to plead within the bar, and they are the only barriSters in Scotland who have the distinction of- silk gowns, When the L. A. declines to prosecute, it is competent for a private party to do so; and in this case the concurrence or "concourse," as it is called, of the L. A., which is granted as a matter of course, must be obtained. Such a pro ceeding, however, is scarcely known in practice in Scotland. The best historical account of this important, and, in many respects, anomalous office, with which we are acquainted, is contained in the judgment of the late lord Medwyn in ldng's A. against lord Doug las, Dee. 24, 1836. In England, the sovereign pursues in his own name; and such was the practice in Scotland, also, till about. the middle of the 16th c., when we find queen Mary prosecuting by her advocate; probably in imitation of the French custom. For some time after the institution of the college of justice in 1532, the A. for the crown was
always one of the judges of the court of session, and as in France the king's A. were also at the same time judges, this coincidence has been mentioned by Sir George Mac kenzie in proof of the French origin of the office; but a combination of offices, now held to be incompatible, was not then uncommon. Lord Medwyn informs us that among the original fifteen ordinary judges was Sir Adam Otterburne, who was king's A. from 1525 to 1538, and also provost of Edinburgh from 1524 to 1535. So late as 1686, Sir George Lockhart, when president of the court, was ordered by a letter from king James VII. to officiate as his A. in parliament. It is not certain that the king's A. was origi nally authorized to act as public prosecutor in crimes; but he certainly possessed that power in 1587 (c. 77), and it seems to be implied in an earlier statute (1579, c. 78). It was indeed, as lord Medwyn remarks, less of an anomaly that a judge of the court of session should act as the representative of the crown in criminal than in civil causes, seeing that the former were adjudged in another court. The king's A. is first mentioned as _ad A, in the record of the court of justiciary in 1598. But although it was not till the institu tion of the college of justice that this office was placed on its present footing, we have mention of its existence in 1479; but the king's A. was not then • one of the- officers of state, a dignity, indeed, which he does not seem to have attained till 1540. • In 1582, the salary of the L.A. was only £40 Scots. His pregent salary is £2387, and be is entitled to perquisites which raise his emoluments greatly above that sum. The L. A.'s deputes have £700 a year, and his legal secretary £500. The crown-agent, who is a writer to the signet (q.v.), and who performs in reference to crown causes pretty much the same duties that fall to an attorney or agent in ordinary litigation, receives £1400. As to the relation in which the L. A. stands to the public prosecutors of crimes in the inferior courts, see PROCURATOR-FISCAL. The L. A., though not • a privy-councilor, is, by courtesy, addressed as. the right honorable during his tenure of office.